Ald. Bill Conway (34th) and some of his West Loop constituents said they are alarmed but not surprised that a man was shot and killed in what Conway called a “magnet” area for violent crime and drugs near a homeless encampment early Thursday.
Darnell Burt, 59, was found unresponsive with a gunshot wound to the chest in the 500 block of West Lake Street. Police say he was shot a quarter of a mile away in the 100 block of North Clinton Street about 1 a.m.
Burt, of the 3600 block of South Wells Street, was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he died, police said. Conway said initial information indicated the shooting resulted from a “drug deal gone bad.”
Police didn’t immediately confirm the circumstances behind the shooting.
The area where Burt was shot is next to a homeless encampment under a viaduct that has been the subject of an ongoing dispute between Conway and Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office.
The area gets heavy foot traffic from commuters, and neighbors said they’ve witnessed daytime drug-dealing and drug use.
Brendan Nyhan, 34, who lives across the street from the area where the shooting occurred, said he and his fiancée, Alexis Aria, 29, were awakened by gunfire and witnessed the aftermath of the shooting from their window.
“It’s scary,” Nyhan said. “I’ve seen multiple other dead bodies from overdoses, not just related to violence. Constantly, people are loaded onto ambulances here. I see drug deals every day, I see drug use out in the open every day.”
During a Thursday afternoon news conference at Lake and Clinton streets, Conway said he asked the mayor to address safety concerns in the area in October, but he was only offered help in exchange for votes on two of the mayor’s proposals before the City Council.
Conway said previous plans to remove the encampment were halted after Conway didn’t vote the way the mayor wanted.
“I walk through these viaducts every day with my 4-year-old daughter, and I see overt drug-dealing in these tents, and there was a plan in place to remove them,” he said.
Conway’s colleague Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) said “we had two wards coordinating this effort, and yet in the blink of an eye, the mayor’s office decided to cancel this, I believe, as political retribution for my colleague. It’s completely and totally unacceptable.”
“I walk through these viaducts every day with my 4-year-old daughter, and I see overt drug-dealing in these tents, and there was a plan in place to remove them,” Ald. Bill Conway said. Conway, at right, was joined by Ald. Brendan Reilly at a Thursday news conference in the West Loop.
Isabel Funk/Sun-Times
In mid-November, about 1,500 residents signed a petition submitted to the mayor’s office asking for help.
Louise Perrin, 67, was one of those who signed the petition. She has lived in the area for 10 years and said she moved there, in part, because of its safety.
“In such a short period of time, it has turned from an area where you felt safe walking around anytime of the day or night, to now, personally, even in broad daylight I will not walk through the viaducts,” Perrin said.
Michael Valdez, who works in the nearby Ogilvie Transportation Center, at 500 W. Madison St., said the disruptions have been worse recently than at any other time in the 11 years he’s worked there.
“I’ve seen [the area] up and coming,” Valdez told the Sun-Times. “The stuff that’s been happening, it’s never been like this.”
Dave Gelfand, who’s been a property manager of a nearby building for 15 years, said that in the last year and a half, he’s noticed more violence and crime.
“There’s been homeless in this area for a long, long time,” he said. “It’s been a sad situation, but it’s never been the point of where people are walking around, literally, fearing for their lives.”
Maracella Hernandez, who also works in Ogilvie, said employees look out for each other and make sure people are safe on their commute home.
“We have security, but from what we understand, they can only do so much,” Hernandez said.
Conway said the situation was bound to turn deadly if it’s not properly addressed.
“This tragic, fatal shooting was predictable, inevitable and likely avoidable based on the trajectory of crime and recent events we’ve seen in this area,” Conway said.
Area 3 detectives are investigating the homicide. No arrests have been made.
